Awesome Weapons

The energy sword from Halo is the game franchise’s ultimate melee weapon. We’ve seen a number of real-life replicas of the sword over the years, now here’s another take on the weapon. Random Hands started out with a rusty old leaf spring from a truck, which he cut, forged, hammered, and split down the middle to form the two halves of the blade.

When it comes to the weapons in video games, movies, and TV shows, bigger isn’t always better. But when it comes to MetaBall Studios’ latest comparison video, size is all that matters. Along the way, you’ll see just how much bigger the Starkiller Base super laser is than the Noisy Cricket from Men in Black and dozens of deadly weapons in between.

The NERF HyperFire can launch about 300 darts per minute. Michael Pick built a custom NERF weapon that can (theoretically) fire 2560 darts in the same amount of time. It’s powered by a dozen motors and has four 15-round magazines. We’d love to see how many darts it could fire with a larger magazine setup.

Road Agent Leather wanted a case to protect and carry his 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol. Being a skilled leatherworker, he decided to make his own from scratch. He started by flattening and dying leather sheets, cutting them into precise shapes, then gluing and stitching them together. He used a laser cutter to make the perfect circles for holding ammo.

Joerg Sprave is known for his inventive slingshot designs. He’s also into unique weapons. In this video, he shows off a neat custom knife he built with a rack-and-pinion mechanism. It pops open and closes quickly with the flick of a lever. He’s sending the prototype to a professional knifemaker to see if it can be refined and put into production.

Some of our favorite LEGO bricks are the ones that shoot darts. Jason from JK Brickworks came up with a fun use for these spring-loaded shooters – a chain gun that fires dozens of darts with the turn of a crank or a motor. From what we can tell, the only limit to how many rounds it can fire is the number of shooter bricks in the chain. Build instructions here.

Weapons are usually built from durable materials like metal or plastic, but The S built this one primarily from cardboard. The oversize toy blaster fires plastic balls and uses a corkscrew to feed them into its motorized chamber for launching. Bonus points for incorporating those flip-flops into the firing mechanism.

We’re amazed by the things that people can make out of cardboard. In this video from The S, he shows how he built a massive toy blaster that fires a trio of rocket-shaped projectiles. The video also serves as a great demonstration of the bargain-priced Wainlux L6 laser cutter, which makes quick work of the precision paper cuts.

Designed by former martial artist and self-defense specialist James Williams, CRKT’s Williams Tactical Key is an innocuous self-defense tool. It looks just like a key but offers a pointed end and a secure grip when needed. It also works as a Philips screwdriver. Its made from steel with a glass-reinforced nylon handle.

From dice towers to dice spinners to dice cups, you can roll dice in many different ways. Pixelcadet’s dice-tossing blunderbuss might be the best dice roller yet. This large-bored, rubber band-powered gun uses dice as ammunition instead of bullets. Here’s how its cartridge works. You can purchase the .STL files to print your own on Etsy.

The Slow Mo Guys were joined by Scott from Kentucky Ballistics to test how destructive a .577 Tyrannosaur rifle cartridge is by firing it at close range into thick blocks of ballistic gel. It’s amazing (and terrifying) to see how the bullets deform the gel and the destructive forces at work. No wonder they say these things can stop an elephant.

Imagine for a moment that humans have started to colonize space. Just like here on Earth, conflicts are likely to arise, and weapons may be drawn. The Infographics Show explores the physics at work in an outer space battle and how guns and bullets might work on asteroids, planets, and in the void of space.

After getting their hands on a switchblade axe, the guys at Hacksmith Enterprises were inspired to create a larger and more powerful version. So they got to work reverse engineering its mechanism, supersized it, and gave it dual blades. The prototype wasn’t particularly strong, but they achieved their goal by upgrading to high-strength steel.

Maker Random Hands created an impressive real-world version of the Valhalla Axe from Assassin’s Creed using a rusty old anvil. To create the weapon, he heated the metal in a furnace, shaped its head with a power hammer, cut it with an angle grinder, then ground it into its final shape. The finished piece has cast metal and wooden handle.

Maker DiesInEveryFilm wanted to see a sword with a flexible blade could be as effective as a straight blade. He created his unusual weapon by machining a custom blade, cutting it into segments, sliding them onto a length of aircraft cable, and welding them into place. The result is a bit floppy but still dishes out damage.

Wearing a Kevlar bulletproof vest is a good idea if you’re in a place where bullets might be flying. But Ryan Kung wanted to see if you could provide a similar level of protection by curving bullets around a body with a vest made out of bent pipes. It holds up reasonably well to handgun fire, but bigger ammo is a bit more of a problem.

Random Hands pulled off one of the most dramatic transformations of an object that we’ve seen. They started off with a rusty old industrial drill bit, heated it up in a forge, and reworked it into a pointy Japanese kunai. It took a whole lot of work to get it into the right shape, then they polished and finished it with a 24K gold plating.

This handmade weapon combines the shape of a gun with a slingshot mechanism to fire a blade. Sabatkay Project shows us how he made this dangerous contraption that uses a modified kitchen knife as its projectile. Mixing elastic bands and knives seems like a recipe for disaster, so definitely don’t try this at home.

TikToker lii0il6 shows us how, in the hands of the right person, anything can be used as a weapon. From sunflower seeds to orange peels to shellfish, you’d better be ready if this masked assassin comes looking for you in your kitchen. And definitely don’t let him near your veggies.

The zombie-slaying game Dying Light 2 Stay Human encourages players to improvise weapons to take down the undead. Thanks to Integza, we have a real-world, 2-for-1 weapon that combines the reach of a sword with the power of a chainsaw. The finished chainsword is driven by an 8 horsepower brushless DC motor.

DanCreator is a master of making cardboard props. His latest build is an incredible replica version of Chainsaw Man’s killer Gatling gun. It has a moving chain with plastic teeth and rapid-fires airsoft pellets using a mechanism that works like a baseball pitching machine.

Amr MCI shows off another neat cardboard weapon build. This one-handed launcher doesn’t fire actual grenades, but it does produce satisfying explosions as it bursts skinny balloons filled with baby powder. Now we want a revolver version that can pop multiple balloons.

Robinson Foundry created these not-so-stealthy shurikens which glow in the dark. He created the design on his computer, 3D-printed forms for sand casting, then filled the molds with aluminum bronze. After finishing, he added a mix of epoxy resin and strontium aluminate, which glows brightly after being exposed to light.